


Red-handed

by Enforcer



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Handcuffs, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, cop!emily, graffiti!tracer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 23:53:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13259247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enforcer/pseuds/Enforcer
Summary: AU where Tracer spends her spare time painting over all the anti-omnic graffiti on the streets of Kings Row, she manages to give police the slip, until she doesn't.  Because I need more graffiti!Tracer in my life goddamn it.Not beta read so expect some mistakes.





	Red-handed

She didn't consider herself a vigilante or anything of the sort, hell,  _technically_ what she was doing was still illegal, but at least she could say she was doing the wrong thing for the right reason. With a slight cramp in her wrist she stepped back to view her latest work, a simple quote said by Tekartha Mondatta. It was nothing fancy, she hadn't brought enough paint with her for that, but anything was better than the hate that lay underneath, hidden away under the black and orange text.

Satisfied, she began to pack up her cans and markers pausing only to listen to the night, wind catching the various wrappers having been tossed into the alleys during the day were a prominent sound when there was little else to be heard. Faintly, the unmistakable wail of a police siren echoed through the darkness, far away enough not to cause alarm but enough to deter her from hanging around too long. In a practiced motion, she whipped out the phone from her back pocket, snapped a picture of the work, wincing slightly as the flash lit up the whole area and hopped the chain link fence. 

It went on like this for a months, her walk to work took her through a lot of streets lined with graffiti. Some just the usual "your mums a whore" or "Jackson was here" and the occasional gang emblem. Sometimes she'd even take a detour to pass her own work to see it in the daylight. Mapping the cover ups she planned to do in the week sometime. Next on her list, she decided was a large depiction of a ninja smashing an omnics head off its shoulders in a home run, sprayed on the side of a fish and chip shop. Truth be told, she preferred the larger pieces, really allowed her to let her creative juices flow. They were risky, sometimes needing a couple of nights to finish and were always the first to be cleaned away but it was worth it, at least she thought so. Rounding the last corner, she made a mental note to stop by the local DIY store and pick up a few new cans of paint after her shift. 

She was buzzing with excitement, before she knew it she was wiping down the bar and saying cheerio to the last patrons of the evening. Lena had been brainstorming ideas for the chip shop all day and had decided on a large Himalayas landscape, she stopped by to pick up the paint, thanking the stars she'd been paid that afternoon, it wasn't cheap but the selection of greens, blues and purples would really make the art pop.

At 11pm the brunette was locking her flat door behind her and hopping the last steps down to the ground floor, humming nothing in particular to herself as she walked. On a Wednesday night there were few people around, only those coming home from a late nights shift were on the roads so it was a relatively quiet twenty minutes to her destination. The first thing she looked for was any operating CCTV, she was wearing a hoodie and the paint fumes meant a mask would be covering her face but she never felt comfortable being watched while she was doing her thing. 

It took an hour to draw up her guidelines, particularly because the image she was working to cover had be painted by someone much taller than her. Wheeling the chip shops bins over solved the issue but it almost caused the end of her evening before she'd even begun when the noise caused the residents above the shop to peer down into the gloom of the lot. In the shadows it wasn't difficult to conceal herself as she willed the occupants not to investigate the noise. _Oh bloody hell._   _Don't come down. Don't come down. Don't come down._

After fifteen minutes of silence she decided it was safe to begin painting, somewhat on edge from the disturbance Lena kept one eye on the street, half expecting the couple living upstairs to round the corner and catch her red-handed. Another hour passed and she was well immersed in filling the white of the mountains of her piece, the only visitor she'd had was a cat walking across the wall behind her, startling her when it jumped down to rub itself against her shin, thankfully, probably because of the fumes, it left as quickly as it came.

Everything came to a screeching halt when a car with its lights off pulled up beside the shop and the driver shone a powerful flashlight into the alley where Lena was at work. Admittedly jumpy and because of the recent rain, as was common in London, she lost her footing on the bin on which she was standing. Hitting her back _hard_ on the edge in a thunderous clash before landing on the concrete, the wind knocked out of her. After a stunned moment, Lena managed a weak groan of pain as she rolled over onto her front, stomach dropping when a pair of polished black boots stopped no more than a foot in front of her face, tapping almost playfully as her eyes crawled up the long to the baton, radio and cuffs hanging from the newcomers belt.

"Uh, evening officer..." was all she wheezed, voice somewhat muffled by the mask, wracking her brain for a possible explanation as to why she was in an alley at gone midnight, in a mask and covered in paint. One that didn't involve taking a trip down to the police station anyway. Alas her mind failed her. " _Bollocks_." To her surprise, the figure chuckled. A pretty, warm and genuine chuckle, one that perked Lena's interest. She bent at the knees in a squat over the prone girl, gorgeous hazel eyes meeting hers as she killed the flashlight with a click.

"Took a pretty nasty fall there, are you alright?" Her voice, gods her voice. Melodious, smooth as silk, filled with kindness. Lena was instantly smitten, needing a minute to register that the soothing sounds were words and she'd been asked a question. Nodding dumbly the redhead stood and took a step back to look over at the wall with a thoughtful hum, half-finished as it was the previous image was still clear.

"I wondered who'd been painting over the graffiti." The implication that the woman didn't consider what Lena was doing also 'graffiti' was left unsaid. "Unfortunately," she continued with something of a sigh, "this is public property and while it's pretty and all it's still vandalism and very much _against the law._ Now then," she stepped over the younger girl, straddling her hips with her feet. "do you have any weapons on you?" The moment passed and Lena regained her motor skills and the very real and likely possibility that she was going to be arrested dawned on her. Confirmed as her hands were gently pulled from her side behind her back. She groaned into herself, pressing her forehead against the unforgiving ground, cursing her short arse for getting her into this mess. Mumbling the negative. She didn't blame, and certainly wasn't complaining when the officer gave her a quick pat-down to confirm she was telling the truth, satisfied that the girl only had house keys and a phone in her pockets, the officer took her shoulders, encouraging a kneeling position before helping her to her feet.

* * *

 

The girl was slightly shorter than Emily but couldn't have been more than a couple of years younger, pulling the mask away from her face revealed adorable doe eyes and freckles lightly dotting her slightly flushed cheeks. As she started them down the alley to her idling car the girl piped up. 

"H-hang on!" She gestures with a nod of her head back into the shadows "my bag." The redhead raises a fine eyebrow at the heavily worn and equally heavily paint stained backpack sitting by the bins. "Paint's expensive love." Emily gave with a small chuckle and dipped down to scoop the bag up, holding it away from her body in case any of the paint stains were fresh, the last thing she wanted right now were white and green splotches dripping down her uniform. Opening the door to her backseat she tugged down the blue hood to reveal wild brunette hair pressing gently into the soft mop as she guided the girls head down below the roof.

Despite her current situation in the back seat of a police cruiser, the girl didn't have any qualms about asking Emily questions about herself, the entire trip back to the station.

Her name was Lena and like she'd suspected, in her mid twenties. Apparently she was the one responsible for a lot of pieces the officer was familiar with, that was all she really got about the girl as the majority was spent answering the girls bombardment of questions. Not that she really minded, Lena was among the more pleasant youths she'd had spouting words to her through the wire mesh that separated them, and it was better than driving in silence. Once they arrived however the girls enthusiasm died down and Emily lead her through the station in silence, watching as the brunettes eyes looked around warily, the rowdy drunks were a common sight at this time along with the odd gang of teenagers arguing. With compassion, Emily seated Lena in the chair right outside the main office, far away from the rest of the nights hoodlums.

"I'll be back in a minute to process you, don't worry though, we've got much worse people to deal with tonight. You'll be out before you know it." Relief flashed over her cute features as Emily removed the cuff from one wrist and snapped it around the arm of  Lena's chair.

"Sargent." She greeted as she stepped into the office, immediately spotting her red-faced boss at a colleges computer, do doubt annoyed by whatever he was looking at. He simply looked up and nodded before his eyes returned to the screen. "I wasn't expecting to see you back yet, brought someone in have you?" he grumbled into his thick mustache.

"Tracer, sir." That got his attention. He paused, eyes flicking back up to hers as he leaned back in his chair with something like smugness in his eyes. He'd been looking for this 'Tracer' for a while, long grown tired of getting phone calls from small business owners about the new graffiti all over their walls. He'd had an earful from the council too, reminded that is was taxpayers money that was having to be spent cleaning up after the vandals. Without another word he got to his feet and leaned around the corner of the office and peered into the waiting room. Lena was easy to spot in her paint stained clothing and bag sitting in the seat next to her. Emily couldn't help but smile behind her boss in amusement as the girl offered a cheeky smirk and a little wave with her cuffed hand as her boss growled. 

"Deal with her, and put her in the tank." He spat as he marched into his personal office, no doubt to write up a report on the elusive Tracers file.

Lena frowned at this, "The tank? I'm going to spend the night here? With _them_." She nodded over to the teens who were growing ever louder in their arguing as to who's fault it was that they were here, and the middle aged drunk men who'd for the most part, quieted down or passed out entirely. Emily considered this for a moment.

"I suppose I could ask you a few questions elsewhere, we have a few vacant holding cells." 

It didn't seem to faze the chirpy brunette how professional Emily was trying to be about this, as she sat outside the cell with a notepad and pen taking notes as she talked about herself, her job, her friends of which she was apparently only one of a sizable group of people who were painting over the hate in the streets while everyone slept. The conversation strayed from information to more casual to playful flirting as the night grew on. Eventually Emily stood, glancing at her watch and whistling in disbelief. 

"Well, that's me. I have to get home and feed Thomas." 

"Boyfriend?" The brunette inquired somewhat hesitantly, at this Emily only snorted.

"My cat, he gets grumpy if I don't get home at dawn to feed him, last time I was late coming back I found my dining chairs strewn across my living room."  She chuckled and ran her fingers over the bars between them almost tenderly. "Have a nice night Lena, someone will come take your fingerprints and maybe some pictures but after that you'll be free to go." 

"Night Em." The younger girl called after her with playful familiarity. Missing the smile it brought to the redheads features.

A week later Emily stopped for lunch at the fish and chip shop close by, the very one she'd found a certain brunette down the side of before. She smiled fondly as she stepped into the alley to look up at the beautiful Himalayan mountain landscape painted on the wall, leaning in as she spotted two figures skating down the side of a mountain. An all too familiar smirk on the brunettes face as she linked arms with the redhead beside her.

**End.**

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise! I'm alive! Yeah I know, I haven't posted anything in over a year and still have my other story unfinished, so shoot me. I was thinking about drawing something but I found a graffiti!Tracer piece I did for the anniversary and fancied writing something to go with it. If you'd like to see it: https://78.media.tumblr.com/4693662cdbd40413c83b7da7e4a0ef16/tumblr_oto8agyGoQ1t1def7o2_1280.png


End file.
